White As Snow
by Lusty Comesquick
Summary: This is the story of Snow White with as it has never been heard before. This story of love, hate, and beauty comes straight from the holy Isle of Avalon. Please Review.
1. Rhiannon: The Mother

Rhiannon: The Mother  
  
Rhiannon was young and dazzlingly pretty; she seemed all white and gold, her skin pale as ivory just stained with coral, her eyes palest blue, her hair long and dark and shining through the mist like living gold. She wore a long white dress, which she was trying unsuccessfully to hold out of the water. And somehow she seemed to shed tears without any ugly distortion of her face, so that, weeping, she only looked prettier than ever.  
  
The mist held on to the lower half of the convent hiding it from view, but a great steeple topped with a cross stared at the travelers with great condemnation. Ellipses was old, and in her aging face were the signs of wisdom. She greeted the small Rhiannon with a hug and two kisses on her cheek. Then she picked up the child's bags and helped her inside, giving two gold coins to the ferryman that Rhiannon had crossed the mighty lake with. Although the walls were bare of decoration and not much light was being produced in the room, Rhiannon welcomed the warmth of the new place, trading away the cold of the road. Her tears still fell down her ivory cheeks but she did well to wipe them now.  
  
"Dear child," said Ellipses, she had helped the girl with her cloak and saw how the child wept. "What is the matter?" a pause told the woman that the girl was sent to the convent of Glastonbury against her will. "Well, I'll have none of it." The lady put her hands onto her fat hips and looked down on the girl with a stern, but compassionate look. "It'll do no good. And, who is to say that you won't like it here?"  
  
"May I have a drink, the road was long and hard to travel?" The girl said after brushing the tears away from her eyes.  
  
"Why, I've forgot me my manners!" Said Ellipses with wide eyes, she hurriedly rushed out of the room soon returning with a goblet of wine and a small cutlet of bread. The girl feasted on the morsel. "Now child, do tell me why y'r father sent you into the holy mother's care?"  
  
Rhiannon looked up from her bread. "Father says that I will be damned. I am unholy with." she got quiet as if she had the most enticing secret in all the world. "The Sight. As well was my sister, but she went with the Lady of The Lake, only across the sea from here."  
  
Ellipses looked at the tiny child before her. Rhiannon was used to these inquisitive looks, she was only seven and yet had the power to see a great deal into the future. Two more women entered the small hall, one carried a pile of cloth the other held a satchel. Ellipses blinked back into reality.  
  
"Follow us, we shall lead you to your rooms." Ellipses said standing and brushing dust from her skirts. Rhiannon shuffled down the narrow passages of the church. She was quite tired now, and night was coming quickly over the Summer Sea. The church was located on the coast and rarely did the women leave, except to become governesses or wives to the small children and their fathers of nearby kingdoms.  
  
Upon entering the room Rhiannon fell onto a large pile of straw in the corner of the room. There was only a thin wool blanket shielding her body from the pointy straws. She closed her eyes as soon as Ellipses had fasten the big cedar door, and Rhiannon reflected on her journeys and all the things she had left behind her. 


	2. Arianrhod: The Mother

Arianrhod: The Mother  
  
The casual woman, Viviane, rode her horse through the shallow waters, and the child followed closely behind her. The cypress that hung near the river was brushing against Arianrhod's eyes as she tried to keep the quickly and steady beat of the hooves. The young girl tugged at the sleeves of her blue riding dress. Her black hair fell in ringlets around her pale face. She much resembled the tall woman in front of her, but this was not her mother. Arianrhod wondered if she would ever see her mother or sister again. Her sister had been sent to a nunnery of Glastonbury, which was just across the summer sea from Avalon.  
  
Avalon was where Arianrhod was headed. Viviane was the great priestess of the Mother Goddess of Avalon, Branwen. Although the small child knew nothing of the old ways of her land, she was excited but at the same time terrified of the outcome of her journey.  
  
The small riverbank that the women traveled along was slowly widening into a vast ocean of mist and water. The cypress and willow trees that hung their deep branches over the small creek came smaller and smaller in their amounts as the women rode on.  
  
Arianrhod looked on in wonder as a long boat with a cloaked ferryman glided gently over the soft waters of the Summer Sea. It beached on the pebbles just in front of the two women. The black-cloaked ferryman (or ferrywoman as Arianrhod now saw) bow gentle and subtly as Viviane climbed down her large stallion. She approached the long boat and stepped inside, carefully not letting her skirt touch the water. It appeared as though she was floating.  
  
The guardians of Avalon and the faithful followers appeared mysteriously over the hilltop. As Viviane turned they bowed low and made small signs with their hands, the signs looked like those of the Christians, but the were very different indeed. Arianrhod looked out into the mist.  
  
"Where are we?" The small girl asked as she climbed off her horse. She stepped into the murky water looking to Viviane for her answer.  
  
"We are on the borders of Avalon." Said Viviane, she too made the sign with her hand. "All will be told in time."  
  
"This." Arianrhod starred into the green waters of the Summer Sea. "This is. Avalon?"  
  
Viviane smirked at the child. "The goddess is everything in nature. And, all of nature is sacred. She and Avalon are everything that is beautiful, and everything is frightening as well. Listen to the sounds of the earth. that is her voice. Look at the sky and the earth with their glorious colors and images. that is her face. Feel her inside of you, talking moving making you hers. that is her soul. All women contain a partial connection with the goddess, but there are those who are blessed by her hand."  
  
"Like with the sight?" Arianrhod begged.  
  
"Yes, or there are some who can hear her and tell others what she tells them. there are even those, like myself, her are her. We belong to her and when we leave this life we find comfort in her palace in the stars. This is the water that encloses the true Avalon, her home and yours."  
  
As they moved closer to the mists a chill crept into Arianrhod's heart. Will I ever see Rhiannon, my sister, again? She thought. The mother answered her question almost immediately as the bells of the convent of Glastonbury rang out into the morning air.  
  
"I that Avalon?" Arianrhod said pointing to the steeple of the monastery. She knew it was not, but Viviane knew the true question.  
  
"That is Glastonbury, Avalon is beneath it, behind it, deeper in the mists. Your sister was meant for there, you were meant for greater things. Avalon was here before the Christians built their monastery." Viviane turned back to the mist, which was growing thicker and slowly piercing Arianrhod making her heart true to the goddess.  
  
Viviane raised her arms as Arianrhod looked on in amazement. The mists separated leaving only a green mountain full of red flowers and green trees. This was Avalon. This was home. 


End file.
